At their statewide membership meeting in Grayling recently, members of the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) welcomed the attention
Pope Francis has brought to the inequalities in our economic and political systems and to our mistreatment of the Earth.

In a
July speech, Pope Francis asked: “Do we realize something is wrong in a
world where there are so many farmworkers without
land, so many families without a home, so many laborers without rights .
. . so many senseless wars?” And he added: “Our common home is being
pillaged, laid waste, and harmed with impunity. Cowardice in defending
it is a grave sin.”

“The Pope says it straight up - it’s immoral to harm our Earth,” comments GPMI member and UP resident Aimée Cree Dunn. “Finally!
Real leadership on the world stage.”

“Greens
hope the Pope’s advocacy for the poor will positively affect several
urgent issues here in our state – that of Detroit’s
water cut-offs and home foreclosures,” says Priscilla Dziubek, GPMI
member and member of the Detroit People’s Water Board. “In his
encyclical on the environment Pope Francis proclaims that access to safe
drinkable water is a basic and universal human right.
In Detroit, people’s water is being shut off for inability to pay due
to rising water rates, and the people are
losing their homes because water bills are being attached to their property taxes.”

Greens urge voters to contact their representatives demanding support of statewide water affordability legislation. "We need a
statute to assure all Michigan citizens access to clean and affordable water,” Dziubek adds.

Lou
Novak, GPMI Treasurer, says, “Our right to clean, affordable water is
under attack on many fronts, including fracking, privatization,
the Enbridge pipeline, and sulfide mining, among others.”

“As a
Green, I welcome the Pope's call for dialogue among all people on the
critical issues confronting us,” says Linda Cree,
a member of GPMI’s State Central Committee.“Although we differ on
issues like contraception and population, Greens totally agree with Pope
Francis on ending the death penalty and senseless wars, on the need to
transform our economies so they serve the needs
of people not corporations; on reining in industrial agribusiness and
supporting small-scale farmers; and, of course, protecting and healing
the natural world.”

“Pope
Francis points out the evils of economic globalization,” says Aimee
Cree Dunn. “It’s a system of industrialism based on
the abuse of the Earth and those who lack financial and political
power. It must be replaced with a system based on sustainable visions,
like that of the Pope's, and like that of the Green Party.”

At their meeting Greens also gathered signatures for the Ban Fracking petition and
made plans for nominating candidates for the 2016 ballot.For more information about GPMI,
please visit www.MIGreenParty.org.You can also “like” the Green Party of Michigan US Facebook page, and follow GPMI's Twitter feed @MIGreenParty.

GPMI was formed in 1987, and has been on the Michigan ballot since 2000.Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District
of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:

Ecological
WisdomGrassroots DemocracySocial JusticeNon-Violence

Community EconomicsFeminismPersonal/Global
ResponsibilityDecentralizationRespect for DiversityFuture Focus/Sustainabilit

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.